


Branded

by FicusNamedFern



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Bodyguard Klance, Galra Keith (Voltron), Lotura - Freeform, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, Royal Wedding, Slow Burn, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2020-02-26 11:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18715891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FicusNamedFern/pseuds/FicusNamedFern
Summary: Galra!Keith & Altean!LanceCreatures in the universe are marked one way or another, whether they like it or not. Some are born with their marks but others aren't so lucky. When Keith accepts a mission to protect the royal couple, he never would have expected to be working with a certain someone that just so happened to piss him off. How will he be able to do his job when his partner is a major distraction?





	1. Party Pooper

**Author's Note:**

> I won't be posting this conventionally so expect me to not post anything for a while. I'm trying to see if people actually want to read this before I post more.

Every living creature in the universe has some form of permanent mark on their skin. Some happen organically and have existed long before the time of their birth while others occur afterlife has decided that they need a deep, painful reminder.

Being a member of a strong-willed, hot-blooded alien race, Keith was very familiar with the latter. It wasn't exactly common for someone of Galra blood to be left unscathed as they walked through life. Whether it was training at an early age, sparring with friends or even battling in arenas filled with onlookers from star systems around, every Galra was marked with their victories and failures, all worn with pride.

Keith still remembers how he received his scars, the cuts and burns fresh in his memory as if he was getting them over and over again. His earliest being one he acquired from an adolescent training session, him being no older than his opponent. He overwhelmed his opponent easily enough, the first of many victories he would achieve in his youth. As the years went on, it was obvious to everyone that Keith was living up to his potential and legacy. Despite his mother being a high ranking official, she was not what made him untouchable. He was perfectly capable of that all on his own.

Eventually, he earned his place in the Blade of Marmora. It was the highest honor for any Galra citizen if they found themselves among the ranks of the bravest and most elite military unit on Daibazaal, maybe even the whole galaxy. It was especially revered by the Galra’s greatest and oldest ally, the Alteans. It was no wonder that they were always among the royals of both alien races, most particularly at large ceremonies.

“Why do we even have to go to this stupid ‘celebration’?” Keith huffed as he removed the accessories of his dark uniform. He turned his back to his mother, Krolia, his large ears folded backward in irritation, his thin fur puffing up.

“As my son, you’re extended an invitation from the Altean royals for my sake.” Krolia leaned against his bedroom door, arms crossed, expression indifferent. “As a member of the Blade of Marmora, you are ordered to attend as security.”

From the tone of her voice, Keith could already tell that he was losing in this battle. Shrugging off the rest of his suit up to his waist, he lifted the outfit left on his bed by his mother until it was directly in front of his face.

“But is this get-up absolutely necessary?” a scowl gracing his light purple complexion. “It's not exactly easy to fight in this.”

He was right. They both knew it. It was about one too many layers of fabric advised for even a freezing atmosphere but still managing to retain breathability. Despite its acceptably dark color palette, the outfit simply screamed _too much_. The undershirt was a skin-tight long sleeve but would later be enveloped by shawls and a floor-length cloak, not to mention the other embellishments paired with the ensemble. Dragging his eyes across his bed, he could still see a mass of fabric and pins protruding from the normally flat landscape. Grimacing, Keith dropped the clothes he had picked up to peel off the rest of his outfit out of his mother’s view.

“Then, that’s a good thing.” Keith could feel the hint of a smirk in his mother’s voice as she continued, “We don't need you picking fights with Altean allies.”

Keith paused, leaning against the door that was separating his mother’s gaze from himself. Even if he loathed the thought of attending balls and parties of any kind, this one was rather important. Somewhat close to home, one might say.

“Fine,” he sighed in agreement. Hearing his mother shuffle out the doorway, he shouted a final compromise that he was adamant on keeping.

“As long as I don't dance!”

```

As soon as they stepped down onto Altea, Keith could feel the dread radiate off of him. He was feeling a little hot under all his layers, being used to the simple Blade armor. His mother had assured him that he looked fine but he couldn’t help but feel utterly ridiculous. He would often tug and pick at the shawl draped across his torso from shoulder to hip, often adjusting the other one that he had tied around his waist. He had intended to forego his cloak all together or at least cut the fabric to his liking, which he currently wasn't, but Krolia insisted otherwise. Besides, he seemed to be the only one uncomfortable.

There were three other Blades attending as well, mostly as security for the Galran royal family. Kolivan hand-picked these Blades himself, _fully trusting in their skills and overall discipline_. Keith didn’t even need to turn his head to his mother and Antok to know that they were all looking at him at that comment.

“We might be here to protect Prince Lotor but do try to enjoy yourselves,” Kolivan spoke low for their final instructions of the night. “This is still a celebration and we do not want to scare off the guests or alert the rebels.”

They all nodded in understanding before splitting off to different sections of the Castle’s ballroom. The Blade of Marmora had gathered intel about a rebel group converging in the quadrant that just so happened to house both Altea and Daibazaal. With what they were currently celebrating, it was pretty easy to connect the dots as to why that was happening. The Galran and Altean royals had been on friendly terms for decaphoebs but the marriage of their heirs to the throne would be the first time the races would be truly united. They may have been cross-breeding since the initial alliance but nothing was ever as big as the sole Galran heir and the lone Altean princess. This union would only make both races that much stronger, making anyone who opposed either race face the universe’s finest alchemists, explorers, and combatants. Many of their rivals wouldn’t stand a chance and were most likely making a move to ensure that they would still have one.

Keith was never one to willingly insert himself into the gossip and festivities. Instead, he lets himself get lost in his work. He kept talking to a minimum, responding as monosyllabic and respectful as possible when dictated. After about five doboshes of insignificant chatter, he made his way up the stairs to do a quick perimeter check over the party floor. He found his fellow Blades with ease, their darker clothes sticking out against the brighter saturation of Altean dress. Kolivan stuck close to Emperor Zarkon and his wife, Honerva, allowing himself to be part of the conversation with other party-goers despite his permanently stern expression. Krolia stood by the buffet table, watching Prince Lotor and Princess Allura make their way towards the dancefloor. Antok was nowhere to be seen but he was around, Keith was sure of it.

After what was probably his third round circling like a bird of prey, Keith stopped, his eyes falling on the prince and princess.

“They’re really cute together, aren’t they?” Keith stepped aside, stance sturdy and combat ready from the shock. “Woah. take it easy, man.”

The Altean, cheeks aglow with the blue of his marks and the moonlight, raised his hands in defense, still holding onto his drink with a smile stretched across his face. After a subtle once-over, Keith stood straighter, deeming him as non-threatening. The encounter didn't appear to have bothered the olive-skinned Altean, seeing that he was chuckling in his throat as he turned his attention to the floor below.

“So, what brings you here?” the Altean asked, swirling his drink in his rotating grip. Sighing the weight off his shoulders, Keith replied.

“Just making sure everything’s secure,” resting his arms on the railing with his own drink cradled in his hands, Keith tried to keep his attention focused on the dancers circling through the center of the ballroom.

“This is literally an engagement party, man. You need to lighten up.” The lift in the corners of the Altean's mouth didn't prevent him from making him sound accusatory. Keith couldn't help the scoff that left his throat. The Altean didn’t seem to notice.

“The name's Lance, by the way,” he turned to face Keith, eyebrow cocked in flirtation. Keith remained unfazed, offering a crisp “Keith” for his own introduction.

“Well _Keith_ ,” Lance said in mockery, “I can’t say that I’ve seen you around here before.” Side-eyeing, Keith saw _Lance_ take a sip from the cup in his hands, a really long sip.

“Probably because you haven't.” Keith took his first gulp of the drink in his hands. Whenever Keith had a drink, one could be damn well sure that he only accepted it to be polite. No matter how long the event would take, he would barely be able to consume half of his drink. He never really liked the taste or what they did to him when he had one too many.

“Why's that?”

“I don't really visit Altea very often.” Lance seemed disappointed by his response.

“You should. I mean the storms are a little… life-threatening but it’s still a beautiful place.”

“I just don’t like going out for pleasure.”

“So ‘all business’?” Keith nodded, taking another sip of the nunvil in his cup.

“I get it. I wouldn't like to be seen outside with my hair looking like that either.” There was a beat of silence when it dawned on Lance what had just come out of his mouth.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

In Lance’s defense, he at least looked like he regretted what he had said but it was too late for that. The deed was done, the writing was set in stone and Keith’s memory was pretty easy to leave an impression on but very difficult to make forget.

“I'm just saying it could use a little work.” Keith let his eyes drift to Lance, grip tightening on his cup as annoyance was beginning to set in.

_Don’t punch him,_ he thought _. He’s probably drunk anyway_.

“So, how do you know the happy couple?” Lance continued as if he hadn’t just insulted him. It was a cheap tactic to change the subject but Keith almost gave him props for the effort.

 

_Almost_.

 

”I'm guessing through the groom.” Lance let his assumption come off as a question, goading Keith to respond.

“Yeah. I’ve known Lotor since I was a kid.” He had hoped that his response should have been enough. That is if his thoroughly pissed off voice wasn't but he was starting to realize that Lance was quite chatty and just as oblivious. He turned to leave but Lance was far from through with him apparently.

“Oh really? That’s awesome.” Keith wished he had picked up a stronger intoxicant. He took a desperate swig at his nunvil since it was taking too long to enter his bloodstream. Unfortunately, he was met with tiny droplets as it appeared he had already downed the entirety earlier in the conversation. “I’ve known Allura for years. She’s practically my s-”

“Look, I don't want to sound rude but you're really starting to annoy me.” Perhaps the nunvil _was_ starting to get to Keith. His sudden snap finally broke the smile off of Lance’s face, leaving a shocked and somewhat insulted scowl.

“Hey man, I’m just trying to be friendly-”

“And I don’t want to be friends.” Keith left with a huff, letting the alcohol burn through his veins like the raging fire he no longer wanted to control. He had barely gotten passed the adjacent pillar before he heard Lance scoff and mutter something under his breath. Keith didn’t even care what he could have said and continued to walk away, down the steps until he found his mother waving for him to come over.

“There you are. Where have you been?” She sounded worried, knowing fully that Keith hated parties, especially those of this kind of grandeur. He didn’t want her looking at him like that.

“I - uh - doesn’t matter. What’s going on?” It didn’t mean he needed to relive his tipsy-rage with the Altean who had gotten under his skin. Krolia blinked. Keith fought off a fidget.

“You have a new mission.” Krolia finally put Keith out of his silent misery, asking no further than her eyes let her.

_Finally, some good news_. Even with his lips flat, the glint in his eyes was far too revealing than Keith intended.

“Great. What’s the mission?”

“The threat appears to be more serious than we initially thought. Several sensors that we scattered throughout this sector have already been activated.” Krolia pressed onto her arm guard, a small holographic map appearing, marked with red dots in a fourth of the screen.

“The number of these rebel forces is still unknown and we can’t be sure how many they will send to sabotage the wedding. Your assignment will be to stay close to the royal couple here on Altea. You will act as their bodyguard until the rebels are either caught or surrender. I believe you’ll be working with the  head of the Altean royal guard.” Keith followed his mother’s gaze to who he assumed was the said Altean. Once his eyes adjusted to the light shining through the windows, his eyes dimmed.

“ _Him?_ No, you have to assign me somewhere else.” Though his grimace was not hidden behind his widened eyes, Krolia simply shook her head.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You were both picked by the prince and princess personally. There’s nothing I can do.”

 

Of all the Alteans to be the head of the royal guard, it had to be _Lance_.

 

Keith was really regretting showing up at all.


	2. Getting On My Nerves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's mission has taken him to places he seriously didn't want to go.  
> Especially with Lance.

Being cooped up in the personal Castleship of Princess Allura was not boding well for Keith, for any of them really.

It had been about ten quintants since his mission began but it was already getting to be too overwhelming. He may be used to small spaces but never leaving the premises of the Castleship was not the same as squeezing through a vent when gathering intel on rebel organizations or black market deals. He may have had the luxury of private living quarters but just about everything else was communal. The dining room, the training area, even the showers were pretty open and shared by everyone.

 

 _All four of them_.

 

To avoid a security risk, the only people allowed to stay in the Castleship were Prince Lotor, Princess Allura and their bodyguards, Keith and Lance. At least the couple was enjoying the lack of prying eyes. Unfortunately, the only “prying eyes” on the ship wanted nothing more than to eject themselves into the vacuum of space if it meant they didn’t get to see one another. That in and of itself was a pain to deal with.

Keith often found himself in the training area, hoping the exercise would clear his head as he slowly slipped into insanity. He would be missing for most vargas in a quintant but everyone knew where he was and what he was doing, which suited him fine. Often times, he would work up a sweat and even refuse meals until he was either writhing on the floor or drenched in so much sweat, he looked like he fell from the Altean pool.

“End training sequence,” Keith managed through his ragged breathing.

He walked towards where he had deposited some of his belongings, having found himself in the middle of the training floor. His heart rate was frantic, sprinting around the running track of his ribcage. The sweat he had been working up was slowly starting to cool his aching body, letting the excess heat escape his loose shirt like steam. He bent down, picking up a water pouch he had snagged from the kitchens before coming to this place. Checking the clock, he concluded that he narrowly missed breakfast. Waking up at the crack of dawn had been a long engraved habit from extended Marmora training but he always dozed off again shortly after. Well, he used to.

He took a desperate gulp at his water, then gasped as he came up for air after nearly only a fourth of its contents remained in the container. He steadied himself with deep breaths, finally deeming it time to eat. He collected the rest of his things before eventually leaving the training room, opting to hold onto the soft red jacket gifted to him by Princess Allura. Despite his efforts to refuse, Keith had come to realize that Altean hospitality is a force to be reckoned with. Besides, the extra clothes were far more comfortable than his Blade uniform.

He found himself in the kitchen, making a beeline for where the food goo dispenser was attached to the wall. He picked up an empty plate from the dish drawer then helped himself to a sufficient amount of food. It had been ten quintants but the flavor of Altean cooking was still too atrocious to gorge himself on. He was hungry but definitely not desperate.

Keith didn’t bother going to the dining room, satisfied with simply leaning on the counter as he shoved as much food goo into his throat without tasting it. Once he finished, he allowed himself to breathe, coughing out the breath he held so as to not smell the goop in his mouth. Unfortunately, the taste lingered and he grimaced as the smell flooded through his nasal cavity. He stomped out the kitchen, nearly throwing his plate into the cleaning unit and returning it to the rack.

He made his way to his room, thankful that he hadn't crossed paths with Lance at all in the last 23 vargas. His longest streak for not seeing him was currently about a quintant and a half and he was determined to beat the record. Since their assignment started, the two of them have been showing nothing but animosity towards each other.

 

 _They worked much better apart_ , Keith thought.

 

Keith was about to pass a bedroom that wasn't his when it suddenly opened, briefly stopping him from his journey back to the comfort of private spaces.

“Quiznak, you look awful,” Lance sneered through a growing smirk.

“Thanks for the input,” Keith sighed as his blood began to boil. He knew their dispute was causing more bad than good in the mission but he couldn't seem to stop it. To be fair, he wasn't the only one fanning the flames.

Not wanting to prolong the growing tension to the point of getting physical, Keith ducked into his bedroom. It always felt too big to him: a barren hull of only the essentials, nothing personal. Blank walls and empty floors, the smell of sanitation overpowering his own natural musk. He gripped his jacket, leaving it to hang on the hook by his door.

 _Bath,_ he thought, moving with the dull ache of overworked muscle.

Water was always a comfort for Keith: sending a cooling embrace to his burning flesh. He liked the cold. Other than that, the subtle movement of the water gave him a gentle rocking, not unlike a baby in their mother’s tender hold. He often wished he could just soak and stew for vargas on end but even he knew his pruning, blue-ing fingers and toes needed a break sometimes.

He stepped into the comforting waft of flowers in the bathroom space. _Juniberries,_ he guessed. He took his time getting to the tub, letting the bubbles settle and the scents infuse with the bath water. He stuck his hand in to test the temperature, preparing himself before committing to a long indulgence ahead.

Slipping into the water made Keith release an unholy sigh of relief that he hadn’t made in a very long time. He had forgotten when the last time he was this relaxed but trying to remember required thinking. Keith wanted nothing more than to not think about anything until reality would inevitably slap him in the face. Until then, he let his aches and pains be washed away by the water that nearly had the tub overflowing. He dunked his whole body beneath the surface before quickly coming up for air once again.

Keith rested his head at the edge of the tub, staring blankly at the ceiling as droplets of water lightly rained on his face from the clumps of his wet bangs. Closing his eyes, he left his other senses to play while he let himself rest. The floral aroma was a blessing as the stench of his own sweat was beginning to overpower him. As much as he knew that a hot bath was better for his aching body, he just preferred the biting cold of chilling water much more. It wasn't exactly ice just yet but it was surprisingly close. Despite his efforts to keep still, the water rocked him back and forth, almost lulling him to sleep. His heightened hearing picked up the sound of popping bubbles close to his face as if there was radio static in the room with him.

Keith let a sigh escape his throat. He had been hearing a lot of radio static recently, even more so as time went on and his sanity slid closer to thin ice. He had hoped that the sound of his mother's voice, of anyone else's for that matter, would save him from this madness but no dice. Another lovely feature of the mission was that contact was kept to an absolute minimum and was avoided at as many costs as could be helped.

Accepting the mission may have been a mistake but he had no choice. Perhaps befriending Prince Lotor in his youth was not as much of a blessing as he had initially thought.

He wasn’t sure how much time had already passed when he started to feel nothing in his toes and fingertips. Keith brought his hand out of the water, inspecting for the telltale pruning of his fingers telling him that it was indeed time to get out of the tub. Pushing his wet bangs towards the crown of his head, he stepped out of the water and let the drain do its work. He picked up a towel to wrap around his naked waist before grabbing another to pat down the rest of his dripping skin. A quick glance at the mirror reminded him that his hair was getting longer due to his negligence. Shrugging, Keith left the bathroom once he was dry enough to get some fresh clothes.

Perhaps the only upside of the mission was that he was at least allowed to pack a few things but his preference to minimalism has bitten him in the ass at last, now that he dwells in a place too unfamiliar to get comfortable in. _Was that a good thing? Maybe_. The mission called for his utmost attention to even the smallest of dangers and getting comfortable would only be a distraction anyway. Still, the practically empty room left a sour taste in his mouth.

Once dressed, Keith left the room to do yet another round of stalking the halls, inspecting every nook and cranny for a security breach, for anything different really. Despite the sheer size of the Castleship, Keith had already memorized every floor, every room and every passageway like the back of his hand. He was confident that he could do his rounds blindfolded and still do every security check without the voice command activated. With only four people on the same ship for an undetermined amount of time, it was really easy to fall prey to boredom. It was even easier when two of those people would be disgustingly joined at the hip and the other two wanted to avoid each other at all costs.

 

This really was a mission Keith regretted accepting.

 

After some doboshes, Keith made it to the main control room to do the routine security checks. The door opened with a whoosh, splitting down the middle to reveal an empty room with a smattering of stars in the dark backdrop of space as the first thing to be seen upon entering. His stride slowed as he made his way closer to the control panel. Routine may be nice for some but it was just so mind-numbingly dull for Keith.

He went through the security checks as slow as he could, hoping to kill as much time as possible before he inevitably went back to his training. Going through everything one by one was as second nature to Keith as breathing by this time. Blow by blow, he went through surveillance footage, internal programming, and resource stock. He was close to finishing when the tell-tale whoosh of the door behind him suddenly caught his attention.

“You do realize that you’re starting to sound like the program, don’t you?” Lotor let the words slip through a smirk as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I guess I just haven’t been around you guys in a while.” Keith turned his back to the Galra Prince, finishing up his last bits of work.

“Which brings me to the reason I’m here,” Lotor gently kicked off the wall and began walking towards him. Crossing his own arms, Keith relaxed his weight onto the control panel while watching Lotor approach. “I have yet to introduce you to my fiancé properly.”

Keith let out a low chuckle. He couldn’t help but break eye contact with his oldest friend as he turned his back to close the screens he’s activated. “You know I’ve already seen her, right? It’s kinda hard not to know who the only female on board is.”

“Be that as it may, I doubt that you have taken the time to get to know her.” Keith let out a defeated sigh. Lotor was right but he couldn’t possibly distract himself like this. Nothing may be happening now but soon enough, his best friend and his fiancé would be in trouble.

“Is this absolutely necessary? My only job here is to keep you two safe and I don’t remember ‘acquainting ourselves’ as one of the objectives.” He couldn’t let his guard down.

He shouldn’t.

“Perhaps not.” Keith turned to leave, thinking himself free of Lotor’s pressuring. “However-” He thought too soon. “As my oldest friend, I implore you to at the very least introduce yourself to the woman I am going to marry.” Frozen, Keith let his words sink in. Another sigh.

“It’s been years and you’re still guilting me into doing what you want?” Keith turned from hearing the chuckle coming from behind him.

“Well, it always works.” Keith had to admit that Lotor did always get what he wanted.

“Fine. I’ll meet her.”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

“Okay, I’ll meet the guy. Do you seriously need to blackmail me into meeting your fiancé?” Lance couldn’t help the smile that was growing on his lips.

“If I found another way to get you to agree, then I would use it.” Allura seemed to be sporting one of her own.

The Alteans sat cross-legged on the large bed in Allura’s quarters. It had been ten quintants since he got the mission for protecting Allura and being quarantined in his oldest friend’s Castleship. He had spent a great deal of his time alone due to certain … circumstances.

Lance wasn’t exactly weak-willed when it came to missions. In fact, being the head of the Altean royal guard meant that he was the very best the Altean military force had to offer. He just can’t watch someone he cares for like a sister be mushy and romantic with someone he finds too attractive to be physically real. Truth be told, he had a little crush on Allura when they first met but in time, he grew out of it. They worked better as allies rather than lovers and he knew that. Then she had to go get engaged to someone and not only was he attractive but also strong, charming and, you know, _a prince_.

_Talk about lucky, right?_

Still, he was happy for her.

“I still can’t believe you’re getting married. My baby is all grown up.” Wiping away mimed tears, Lance nearly chuckled through his overly exaggerated pouty face.

“I can hardly believe it myself.”

“So, tell me about the guy. Is he charming? Sweet? Is he hiding a great body under all those clothes?” Lance’s smirk was not met with the same energy as he had expected.

“Lance!” Pushing with a bit too much force, Allura knocks Lance over the edge of the bed as a blush began to creep up her neck. As painful as the landing was for his backside, Lance managed to retain his giddy as he crawled back onto his earlier seat.

“What? I gotta make sure that your fiancé is worthy of being your husband _and_ the future king of Altea.” Lance really wasn’t very good at feigning innocence. Allura rested her weight on her palms as they planted themselves behind her, an unamused expression on her face.

“And me describing his anatomy to you is going to determine his worthiness?” She had raised one of her eyebrows high on her forehead. Lance didn’t seem the least bit guilty with his signature smirk still cutting through his face.

“I mean it would be a start.” When Lance started fluttering his lashes like a child, Allura couldn’t help her annoyed exterior to start crumbling down. Lance always had that effect on her. She let her head fall forward with a laugh caught in her throat.

“How you managed to gain my father’s trust will forever be a mystery to me.”

“Hey! I ‘gained your trust’ not too long after and in pretty much the same way.” Lance just loved to feign hurt when it came to Allura. She was never truly convinced.

“So you _also_ caught my father as he was gaining consciousness from cryo-sleep?”

“Not exactly but he _did_ have to get into a cryopod because of me.”

“Of course, how could I forget?”

“I’m just glad I wasn’t strong enough to kill him.”

“I sincerely hope that whoever you are speaking of is alright.” The new voice caught Lance a little off guard but the smile on Allura’s face made him relax. This was obviously the oh-so-charming prince that had swept Allura off her feet.

“Thankfully, he is. I see you’ve finally brought him with you.” _Him?_ Lance’s eyes drifted to the Galra again, seeing that there were, in fact, two of them in the room.

“Oh no. What's _he_ doing here?” They were staring daggers at each other and giving off all levels of vicious.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Keith was clearly loving this as much as Lance.

“I’m the Head of the Altean Royal Guard so being by the princess’ side to protect her is kinda where I should be,” Lance argued.

“From what I hear of Altean strength and combat training, your princess is perfectly capable of protecting herself,” Keith shot back.

“Oh, so you think that I can’t protect her?”

“I think that anyone would be better off not being protected by you.” Lance actually looked insulted. Keith didn’t think his massive ego was capable of getting through the door, let alone taking a beating.

“And you can do any better? From what I’ve seen, your prince can take down anyone in the arena.”

“Actually - “ Lotor attempted to cut in.

“Argh! I knew this was a bad idea. I’m going to the training room,” Keith quickly fired back with what he thought would be his final words.

“Don’t you walk away from me, Frizzy.” Lance laced his words with venom.

“Again with the hair. Just let it go.” Keith kept his back turned, keeping his sights set on the door.

“I will when it stops looking awful.”

“Why don’t the two of you spar together? It might get you to get used to each other.” Bless Allura for still trying to get the kids to get along. Keith had to hand it to her for her determination.

“Or vent out our frustration.” _That was the most sensible thing Lance had ever said since we’ve met._

“Either way, you will eventually loosen up enough to be civil.” Keith couldn’t see what was going on with his back still turned but he could tell Allura had control in the room. He could feel it.

“Fine,” was all Lance could say.

Keith didn’t bother replying, simply walking out, not even looking back to see if Lance would actually follow him but the distinct opening and closing of the door behind him told him that he didn’t need to. The walk towards the training room was dead silent. The tension between them could choke out a Balmeran. It wasn’t until they had reached the elevator that Keith had decided to break the thick glass of awkwardness and rage.

“Why did you even bother coming?”

“I can’t say no to Allura.”

“What? Are you in love with her or something?” The sigh that left Lance’s lips didn’t really seem like the result of exhaustion or annoyance. It seemed more…

“I’ve never broken a promise with her.”

 

Pained.

 

Just as Keith was on the verge of opening his mouth again, the elevator screeched and shook to a halt. Before either of them could steady themselves, the lights went out, leaving everything pitch black. Even if he couldn’t see anything, Keith’s gaze went to where Lance’s eyes would have been but still, darkness.

They both let out a low sigh.

 

 _Well, this is just great_.

 

If Keith weren’t so young in Galra terms, he’d think he was getting too old for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed Mullet to Frizzy for the hair insult/nickname because mullets are a very human thing and I think that kind of hair might be somewhat normal for Aliens. Besides, Lance's self-care routine would probably include hair and I would think Keith's would be relatively ratty since he don't give a damn


	3. Call a Truce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance find themselves trapped in an elevator but neither can get out alone.

This was not going well.

There was just no chance that Keith would ever get a break. One after the other, he seemed to only get more and more frustrated with something not going his way. He had agreed to a mission to protect Lotor and Princess Allura but gained a pain in the ass. He had agreed to meet the princess but got a face full of insults. He had agreed to train with Lance as per the princess’ wishes but somehow wound up trapped in an elevator with him. If only he could be in the training room instead. If only he could be anywhere else than in the damn elevator. It was almost comedic to him. The one thing that would clear his head is suddenly so out of reach.

They had been stuck for a good 5 doboshes and the frantic pacing echoing through the elevator was not helping.

“Would you knock it off?” Keith wasn’t sure if he had made it clear enough to Lance that his erratic footsteps were about as annoying as his insults and snide remarks but the beat of silence was an acceptable result nonetheless.

“There’s gotta be a way out of here.” The footsteps had started again but now they were circling Keith. It was slightly unnerving to not be able to sense anything but the steady rhythm of Lance’s footfalls. There weren’t any wall smacks or weight shifts either which only made Keith feel more like prey. Like he was caged while his captor simply watched and taunted. Enough was enough.

“And you walking around like that isn’t going to do that any faster.” The steps had slowed to a stop in front of him.

“Well, what do you think I should do?”

“You can help me weigh our options, for starters.” Keith heard Lance exhale and then silence. It didn’t take many ticks before Lance spoke again with slightly more determination than when this first started.

“The doors have a vacuum seal so that’s out of the question.” Which was probably why neither of them thought to pry the doors open. Lance was most definitely a frequent visitor on the ship and the fact that he was also Altean meant other ships he had been on would have had similar structures. Keith, despite not being of Altean heritage, was quite familiar with elevators like this since he had been warned often to avoid them when trying to make a hasty getaway. 

“Then, that means the walls are a snug fit to the elevator shaft so breaking out through the sides is even less unlikely,” Keith responded to Lance with a hint of defeat.

“We couldn’t break through the walls if we tried. The material can hold its shape against anything the size of this ship,” Lance fired back almost immediately, leaving Keith slightly stunned. He didn’t expect Lance to be this helpful, honestly.

“OK… So that leaves the floor and the ceiling,” Keith concluded with a strain as he craned his neck up and down.

“We try to open up the floor and it would be a sheer drop to the bottom of the shaft.” Keith had actually forgotten about that. At least it left only one option for a possible escape.

 

_The ceiling, huh?_

 

Despite the elevator being pitch black, Keith did his best to find anything that was different on the ceiling. For a few ticks, even doboshes, it seemed hopeless. It felt like he had bumped into everything wall trying to see anything that would catch his eye. Strangely enough, he never even touched Lance while they were in there. He wasn’t sure if he was too distracted from looking at the ceiling with a searing glare or because his movements and breathing were much louder than he expected them to be. Before he could dwell on that thought more, Keith finally spotted something.

“Wait, do you see that?” It probably crossed Keith’s vision more than he would like to admit but once he saw it, he was much more hopeful.

Just above Keith’s head was a sliver of light, about a hairline’s breadth, forming a rounded rectangle big enough to fit his shoulders and then some. It was a good thing elevators always had a panel for repairs and, in their case, escape routes. Raising his hands above his head, Keith realized he was much too short to even touch the panel, let alone open it. Lance must have heard his struggle because soon enough, Keith felt body heat radiating from his side.

“Here, let me help you up,” Lance spoke low, close to Keith’s ear. Somehow, Lance still managed to find him in the darkness. Before Keith could even question him on his impressive sense of space, he felt something touch him.

“Your fur is pretty soft.” _Lance’s hands._

Lance must not be able to see anything, with his hands so busy exploring Keith’s face and neck. He most likely figured that whatever he was touching was not anything he could use to hoist Keith up towards the panel because Keith felt his hands journey down and out towards his shoulders. Lance was being unnaturally gentle, probably for the sake of their awkwardly hostile relationship. Keith didn’t really feel nervous jitters from Lance’s fingers but clearly a certain distance: a self-protective disassociation from this uncomfortable circumstance. 

Soon after Lance made a feel for his arms, he moved down to where Keith’s hips were. Keith had to swallow as his throat began to tighten. He hadn’t been in any relationships that would require this type of touching. He knew that Lance wasn’t doing this to make his blood boil but it sure was starting to get hot under his skin. If Lance saw what his touching was doing to him, he would definitely take his hands away as if they had been burned.

Lance finally reached his destination, Keith’s thighs. Without much of a warning, he wrapped his arms around Keith’s legs to carry him towards the panel. He seemed to have overestimated the actual distance and rammed Keith’s head into the panel, popping it open. Keith let out a pained groan, letting any discomfort he had from the touching earlier be replaced with a new kind of hurt. Lance made a quick apology as he struggled to keep Keith straight and upright. Once Keith recovered enough to remove the panel, the light from the shaft came streaming in, making them both wince at the sudden change in brightness.

Half-blind and squinting, Keith grabbed hold of the panel edges to lift himself up and out of the elevator. After a few ticks to adjust himself to the light, Keith oriented his body to bend into the panel for Lance. With one hand outstretched into the darkness of the elevator and the other acting as support, Keith managed to raise Lance high enough for him to help himself out.

“Now what? We can’t climb. The walls are too smooth and there’s nothing to hold onto,” Lance noted, despite the fact that his eyes were still adjusting to the light. Looking around, Keith nodded as he came to the same conclusion. He got up and began surveying the distance between opposite sides of the round walls. Taking another look at himself and then Lance, he may have had a plan.

“I might have an idea but you’re gonna have to trust me.”

“You’ve gotten us this far.” The smile on Lance’s face is unlike any Keith had already seen from him and it was doing things to him that he really didn’t have the time to name. After a small cough, he continued.

“Sometimes on missions, I would climb up a vent by putting my back against one side and my feet on the other...”

“Sure?”

“So I’m thinking, if we put our backs together and push against the walls with our feet, we can climb to the nearest vent.” Lance’s eyes moved up the walls of the shaft, knowing it would be a long way up before they would even see a vent. Then, he gave Keith a shrug.

“It’s worth a shot.”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

They had been at this for a solid 10 doboshes and quite frankly, they should have fallen into a routine by now. Unfortunately, they _should_ have. Keith was already bothered by the lax force that Lance was giving him and he often felt like he was slipping. He was just about to take one more step when he realized he was leaning too far to reach the wall. Another weight shift and he felt the slip.

They had skidded for a few ticks but looking down, there was no way they could just go back now. Keith was not happy about this at all and quite frankly, he was not about to sugarcoat his struggle.

“It’s right, then left. You’re off.”

“You’re off _and_ hoving too hard.” Lance had taken this time to prove his point by pushing Keith’s torso into his knees. 

“You’re not shoving hard enough.” Lance was still too tired to fight Keith when he retaliated with his own push.

“I shouldn’t have come along.”

“Would you stop whining?”

Keith could hear how exhausted he was. How exhausted they both were. But at the moment, there was no time for either of them to indulge in their own breathlessness. If only they could rest. Keith let his head fall back to lie on Lance's shoulder. Then, he saw it.

“Look!” _A vent._

They gave each other this look. _Just one more push._

They kept quiet and nearly ran up the walls to reach the vent. Almost as quickly as they had seen it, Keith was able to touch it. Without a second thought, he steadied himself and kicked the vent panel in. It was open but now they had a new problem: how were they going to actually get into the vent? Keith thought for a moment and he had another idea. Crazy? Maybe but it was all he had.

"When I say 'go', I need you to kick off the wall as hard as you can." Lance's grunt was his only reply.

It was gonna be difficult but not necessarily impossible.

"3… 2… 1… GO!"

Once Keith felt the weight push into his back, he let go of their linked elbows and turned his body to see Lance better. With one arm out to Lance and the other reaching and clutching for the vent, they were nearly in free fall. Less than a tick was all he needed. His grip on the vent tightened as did his hold on Lance, who held on for dear life. When gravity decided to catch up with them, Keith had a firm grasp of the vent and Lance as he precariously hung to his lifeline.

They had to steady themselves before either of them could start moving again. Keith did his best to essentially bench press Lance with one hand. He was much heavier when his life was in danger. When he got high enough, Lance latched unto the vent, allowing Keith to slide in. He had to shift around a little to get his feet to go down the vent first but that was over quicker than expected. Even Lance didn't have that much struggle with it.

The slide down was a little steep but Keith seemed unfazed. He had done this time and time again before this mission started and he was sure this would not be the last. Lance's scream from behind told him just how much experience he had with this which was almost laughable. _Cute, even._

There was a light just ahead and suddenly, it was all around them. They had fallen with a thud, Keith on his face and Lance on his ass. It hurt a lot but only one thing really mattered at this point.

“Finally... We’re out," Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t really feel like training anymore. How about you?” Keith wondered. Lance laughed in his throat.

“I think my body has been through enough for a few vargas.” A beat of silence. Keith spoke first.

“So… lunch?” Lance gave a lopsided grin.

“Absolutely.”

The walk back to the kitchen was silent which was probably a change in the right direction. Any other day before would have had them either at each other’s throats or running the other way. At least now they were civil enough to walk side by side without protest. Keith preferred this to the incessant arguing which he hoped had finally met its end. They could probably still disagree but hopefully, now, it was without malice.

"I'm gonna need a nap after all that." Lance rubbed his eyes, giving Keith a heavy-lid smirk.

"Yeah, looks like you need it." Lance chuckled at his comment.

 

_Definitely, without malice._

 

In Keith's eyes, Lance didn't seem so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've been following my story, thank you so much for your patience. I started writing as a way to pass the time so I do forget about finishing this story. However, I do plan to end this story and I hope you can remain as patient as you have been.


	4. Things Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance finally make peace but something is amiss when Allura suggests something Lance is not ready for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hallo! sorry for the delay but college is stressful and I've got a ton on my plate but I'm getting back into the swing of things. This chapter was actually supposed to be part of Chapter 3 but I thought it would make a more well-balanced story if I split it. Thanks for the patience and happy reading!

It had been three movements since the elevator incident and things were looking up for the bodyguards. They hadn't fought much for quintants on end as of late. The royal couple had noticed but decided not to comment on it. They didn't want to spook the other two after all the effort they went through to get them to this point.

There was some leftover aggression which was understandable since it's not that simple to just get along with someone who knew exactly what to do to push one's buttons. However, that had been taken care of through shared training with the combat bots. They had realized that their expertise in weapons and close combat could not have been more different. Where Keith excelled in blades, short and long alike, Lance found his talents in long-range energy rifles. Where Lance worked better with other people and picking off engaged targets, Keith was quick, brazen, and reckless. 

Sparring was interesting, to say the least. Keith hadn't really found anyone who could best him since his youth but for some reason, Lance could overwhelm him every now and again. Where Lance lacked in speed, he made up for in strength and strategy. Still, Keith was victorious at times he couldn't really keep track of ( _ 8 out of 14 but who's counting? _ ). Where Keith lacked in awareness, he made up for in perseverance and stamina. 

Where Keith was hot, Lance was cold and it only worked in their favor.

"We're about to enter some dangerous territory," Allura stated one quintant. They all had been summoned into the control room for a meeting regarding their current situation. “The area is relatively empty which makes it a hunting grounds of sorts.”

“So, are we expecting pirates in this quadrant?” Lance quirked up, probably itching for a real fight.

“Hopefully not but it is very likely that they will make their presence known,” Lotor answered with his eyes trained on the holo-map projected from the control panel. Lance had a look in his eyes at his answer, a dangerous glint that said he was ready to pounce on his prey.

“If they’re dumb enough to attack us, we’ll be ready for them.” Despite the smile on Lance’s face, Keith couldn’t help but scoff at his declaration. They might have been friends but it was hard to take Lance seriously when he was being a little ridiculous.

“Slow down, Lance. We have target drones in the training room for your trigger fingers,” Keith shot back with a laugh in his throat, to which, Lance faked shock from insult.

“That’s no fun. Sure, they help my aim but they can never beat the rush of a real battle.” Keith would have to agree with him on that one.

“Standing your ground against an assailant is not meant to be fun, Lance. You’re already great in a fight but you sorely lack in your listening. You can be quite stubborn,” Allura supplied. 

“At least, I’m not the only one.” Lance shot a knowing look to Keith with a smirk to accentuate what he was implying.  _ Smug little bi- _

“Besides, I’m sure there is something we can do to remedy that.” There was a strange silence at Allura’s words. A lot of confusion among the three men until Lance stilled, the inner workings of his mind coming to a halt, a conclusion. He widened his eyes in both realization and horror.

“No, no-no-no-no-no. Don’t you dare, Allura," Lance sputtered quickly. 

“Come on, I’m bored and in need of a little entertainment.” The copper-skinned princess merely let her lips curl up with a hint of sadistic mirth. Keith didn't think it possible for anyone to have a more dangerous look in their eyes than Lance.

“You think putting me in that death trap is ‘entertainment’?”

“What are you talking about?” Keith cut in. Lance turned from Allura to Keith, giving him the most deliriously furious look he hasn't seen from Lance since their last overdone training session.

“Only the most awful torture device to ever be invented by Alteans.”

“Don’t say that. You got out of there eventually.”

“Only because your father caught you leading me into walls on purpose and told you to let me out.”

“Oh please, you were fine. A little roughed up but still alright.”

“‘A  _ little _ ?”

“What exactly is this ‘torture device’ and why is Lance so against it?” Keith loved Lotor like a brother but even he knew that was probably not the best way to change subjects. Despite being curious himself, Keith saw Lance flinch as Allura looked a lot more smug than usual.

“Why don’t I just show you?”

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

“Why do  _ I  _ have to be the test dummy?” Lance asked from the training room just below where the others were in the observation and control room.

“Because I asked and you love me too much to tell me no.” Keith couldn't quite see Lance's face but his dissatisfied grunt was loud and clear in the control room's speakers.

Although Keith was very talented in nearly everything he set his mind to, learning a different language was always difficult for him. Reading the Altean from the ship's holo-screens and labels had been a challenge and continued to be a pain in his ass. Squinting at the screen as Allura chose and activated the exercise, he did his best to decipher the lines and symbols that made up the Altean language but came up with a hazy translation.

“It’s called the Invisible Maze?” Keith asked sheepishly.

“Yes. It’s not a very common or sought-after training exercise and you will find out why in a few doboshes." She continued to type and fiddle with the keypad in front of her. "The idea is to trust each other, especially when the situation is most dire. This exercise requires two people: one in the maze and one here, in the control booth. The one in the maze cannot see the walls and must trust that they will be directed out safely. The one who can see the map must trust that their partner in the maze will listen to their instructions down to the letter. However, there is a little incentive.”

“And what’s that?”

“The walls are electrified," Allura answered immediately with little emotion if any at all.

“So, if either of the two fails-”

“The one in the maze will be shocked with just enough volts to hurt but not enough to lose consciousness,” Allura interrupted to finish Lotor’s thought.

“That’s insane,” Keith interjected with a hushed voice.

“Which is why this exercise is so unpopular.”

“Are the walls up yet? I wanna get this over with.” Lance’s voice cut through the speakers in the booth. Looking at the screen, Keith saw the mute setting activated on the control room’s headset.

Keith watched as Allura picked up a small white earpiece that had a dim blue light emitting from the main body of the device. She eyed it for a tick or so before turning to Keith. Another dangerous smile crept onto her lips as she grabbed Keith by the forearm and sat him on the seat with the invisible maze's map loaded. She shoved the earpiece on him, making him wince and give a hesitant look to her. She made a "go on" gesture with the back of her hand, prompting Keith to analyze the map on-screen.

"Take two steps forward."

"You're making Keith guide me through? Yep, I'm gonna die here," Lance retorted. Even if he was far from the booth's window, Keith could tell Lance was less than excited to be absolutely helpless in the maze. Essentially moving blindly in a minefield.

"Oh don't be so dramatic. You'd make a great team," Allura replied.

"I don't doubt that. I mean, I  _ do _ make an awesome partner." Keith wasn't sure if it was  _ that _ obvious but the slight shake in Lance's voice could not have been from the sheer confidence he was projecting.

"Hey 'partner', I said, 'take two steps forward', then turn right and take three steps in that direction." Keith figured that if they could just get through the exercise, Lance should be fine. Besides, judging from the map, Lance should have been really close to the exit anyway. Just a few doboshes and they would have been home free.

Keith was watching the screen for Lance's movements, symbolized by the little blue dot in the maze taking up the bulk of his screen. For a tick or two, things seemed to be going well until they heard the first scream.

"AaaAaAAaaAAAaaaaah! You did that on purpose," Lance yelled after a huge shock which confused Keith. He shouldn't have been electrified. In the map, he wasn't even touching the walls. Nowhere near any in fact. He figured it was a glitch in the system and shrugged it off, rationalizing that it was just an old and underused system.

"You're not listening,” was all Keith thought to reply. Surely, Lance must have been being rather defiant, considering how much he hated the maze.

"You said, 'turn right'!"

"But before that, I said, 'take two steps forward'." Keith heard Lance grumble something he couldn’t make out through his earpiece, repeating his initial instruction. However, it probably did not occur to Lance that where he was now was not the same place as when he had first started, making the instruction obsolete. Not finishing the second step, Lance screamed again as he was once again electrified with an unknown number in voltage. Despite the distance between them, Keith could tell Lance was a little more than through with the training exercise.

“Okay, that’s it! Shut the maze down right now!” Lance demanded as he turned to face the booth window. Perhaps, a  _ lot  _ more through with the training exercise.

"Lance, we're not done ye-"

"I said 'now'," Lance almost whispered through gritted teeth, eyes ablaze with fury.

That's what did it. Allura swallowed a few times, as if she couldn't get the lump in her throat to finally slide down. There was an uneasiness in her hand as she reached beyond Keith's shoulder to deactivate the training exercise. Once the walls were down, Lance removed his helmet with such force it looked about ready to crack in his hands. Allura had already run out of the control booth to meet him by the door with the Galra males following close behind her.

“Lance, I was only - “

“I’m not in the mood, Allura,” Lance spat as he walked away from them. Soon, his figure was out of sight and only then did Allura allow herself to breathe.

“I suppose I did take it too far this time.” Allura had lost all monarchical presence as she slumped her shoulders and drooped her head forward. She looked and felt nothing like a princess and just seemed small, almost childlike in stature and demeanor. She remained quiet for a long while, leaving Lotor nothing to do but to comfort her with Keith simply lost and weightless, unsure of what to do with the Altean.

“Lance is amazing at making others hear and respect his opinions but when it comes to listening to others, he just can’t do it. At least, not since...” The princess drifted off. She shivered in Lotor’s arms, almost disgusted by the memory she unintentionally let resurface. Keith looked to where Lance had walked off as if hoping to still see him but no such luck. Looking back, Keith made eye contact with Lotor, who only gave him a single short nod.

“I’ll go talk to him.”

It took a bit of searching before Keith could even guess where Lance had gone. He went down the corridor but once he made the turn, he was bombarded by the very doors he had memorized quintants before. He listed them off one by one, trying to fit himself into Lance’s shoes. He wouldn’t have found solace in the kitchen supplies closet since it would be too cramped. He would rather not stray into the power sector for his own safety since one wrong move would probably get him disintegrated. The elevator was unlikely since he still refused to ride one alone after the incident with Keith. Room after room, Keith listed them off until he stumbled across the common area. He figured Lance might want the closest and safest room on the floor. Keith entered the automatic doors only to find it empty. 

 

_ Quiznak _ .

 

Keith was just about to give up when he remembered where he would always find Lance exiting a room during his rounds. He quickened the pace through the room to the adjoining doors at his diagonal. After the initial whoosh of the opening doors, he was left in another silence like always. In the pathway, he found his new target and made for the next door. The holodeck wasn’t in its default setting of nothing but a window full of the dark abyss that is space with its smattering of stars, nebulas, and galaxies. Instead, he found an activated hologram of Altea with the hint of classic Altean blue fabric peeking out from the side of the control panel. When Keith had stepped closer, Lance let out a tired sigh.

“Look, Allura. I’m sorry for snapping at you but-”

“As much as I’d love to hear what you have to say, you should really save that for her,” Keith cut in. Lance had turned from the hologram to see if he wasn’t crazy as he sized up Keith. 

“Oh, Keith. I didn’t think I’d see you there.” Clearly, Lance wasn’t expecting any company, least of all Keith. He sat himself down beside Lance, keeping his eyes on the hologram until Lance did the same. Keith had noticed that Lance wasn’t very open to confrontation when making eye contact and found it easier to just look away once things got too uncomfortable for him. It wasn’t that he was shy or soft-spoken. He was quite the opposite most days but when he got too vulnerable, he was just… different.

“What’s made you so quiet? I’d like to take note of it if I ever need you to shut up.” Thankfully, Keith’s attempt to be funny was received well enough to get a soft chuckle and a smile that didn’t have the Lance-ness it usually did but it had to do. Keith let his own lips curl but there was a cautiousness to it. Lance’s sad excuse for joy eventually died down when he looked at the hologram of Altea once again, disconnecting slightly. “But seriously, what’s up?”

Lance didn’t seem to register his words for s few ticks, simply training his gaze on the hologram as if he were memorizing every pixel. His breathing had evened out but it was way too deep to be natural. Another exhale left his lips before he finally spoke.

“I just… I can’t stand the maze. Last time I tried it, I didn’t talk to anyone for like three quintants.”

“That bad?” Keith asked with a slight cringe. It would be weird to not hear Lance’s voice for five vargas, let alone three quintants.

“Worse,” Lance whispered. Keith really hated seeing Lance like this, so muted and dull compared to his regular self, his real self.

“So, what brings you here of all places?” Keith asked to divert from the topic.

“It’s kind of … personal.”

“Indulge me, just this once.”

Lance let out another heavy sigh, closing his eyes while doing so as if he were bracing himself for impact. When he opened his eyes, he turned to Keith yet still kept his gaze to the ground. Looked like eye contact was still difficult but he was clearly trying.

"Ever wonder how far we are from Altea or Daibazaal?" Lance asked with an eerie calmness. Keith almost didn’t know if Lance was actually talking or if he had imagined it. Thinking about the question, Keith knew it never really crossed his mind much since he was always so busy moving around the universe for missions. He shook his head slightly, prompting Lance to continue.

 "I know exactly where we are and how far we are from Altea but that's pretty much it. I can see it like it’s right in front of me but I'm not there. I can't smell the flowers or the meadows, can't taste the breeze as it sweeps through the hillside. I'm not there and I feel that all the time." Lance's words seemed to have sped through him like they were shot from his chest. 

As soon as all of it had been laid out, Lance returned to his previous silence with a sheen glossing over his eyes and water brimming at his lower eyelid yet refused to drip. He blinked the unshed tears away, leaving them to bead on his eyelashes or else fall unseen. It was clear he would much rather not cry but Lance couldn’t seem to help the onset of such raw emotional turmoil. Despite his duty, he was still young and much too sensitive for the world of a soldier. Keith may have been just like him once long before he had his first taste of true combat, of feeling the pain from injury and the rush of his blood coursing through him as he fought to survive. Even the consequences if he was to lose focus, he knew what was at stake when he was out in the field but Lance… 

"I can't pretend that I know what you're going through but I can help. If you ever need to chew someone's ear off, you've got mine. They're kinda big anyway so they’ll need a trim." Keith’s little self-deprecating joke appeared to have cheered Lance up, at least getting a small smile and a genuine chuckle out of him.

"Aww, that's not… no that  _ is _ true but I think they're kinda cute." Keith felt a bit of blood rush towards his cheeks at Lance's comment. It wasn't normal for him to get so flustered like this so he brushed it off, maybe he would handle it later. 

"At least they're not as bad as yours," Keith replied with a cough and a slight crack in his voice.  _ Now, that  _ definitely  _ hasn’t happened like this before. _

"Oh, that is low, even for you. Nothing is ‘bad’ about my ears," Lance declared with an emphasis on Keith’s choice of adjective to portray mockery, keeping his expression stern. Thankfully, Lance appeared not to have noticed a shred of Keith’s discomfort and the natural banter had finally set him straight.

"I don't know. I heard Allura thought they ‘looked hideous’ when you first met,” Keith retorted with his best Allura impression which had broken through Lance’s feigning-anger face as he was trying his hardest not to smile. 

"I don't need this abuse." 

They looked at each other for a few ticks before they both burst out laughing like it was the funniest joke they had heard in decaphoebs. Perhaps it was the earlier tension but Lance finally relaxed enough to actually enjoy himself, even just for a moment. Once the laughing had slowed enough for either of them to breathe normally, Keith took a look at Lance’s eyes.  _ Bright as always _ .

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah, actually... Thanks." The smile Lance gave Keith looked familiar but was somehow different this time around. Especially with what it did to make his chest hurt like that.

"No problem. So you wanna get something to eat?" 

"You bet."

They began their journey to the kitchens, side by side with a newfound connection between the two. It was different from what Keith was used to but he figured that what was happening with them felt right. He hoped Lance felt the same and would not pull away again. Lance keeping his distance from everyone, from Keith hurt him more than he realized and would care to admit at this moment. At this moment, at least, they were fine.

As they were leaving the holodeck, Lance had stopped just as the doors opened. Keith turned to him when he no longer felt his presence by his side and saw the focus in his eyes, despite them looking at nothing. He remained silent and so did Keith since he knew Lance focused better in silence. 

"Do you hear that?" Lance asked with a look of concern in his voice.

Keith shifted his focus from the Altean in front of him to pick up what is was that he was hearing. It wasn’t long before he heard it. Even with his large ears, it was relatively faint. His hearing may still be suffering damage from missions in the past so Lance must have the extremely heightened senses if he picked it up at all. The ticking was slow and steady, mimicking the timing of a regular ticker.  _ Tickers are harmless _ , Keith thought. Then, it changed. The ticking had sped up significantly, prompting the two to try and exit the room at top speed. They both knew what that meant.

"Keith!" 

There was no time for Keith to even react to his name before he was being pushed through the doorway. Suddenly, he felt a burning heat and a powerful force pushing him even further out into the hallway.

 

After that, all Keith knew was that his body went numb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... I got real lazy at that last part in the holodeck so I'm sorry if it's a little below par but I hope you still enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for Chapter 5!


	5. Under Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The blast did a number on not only the castle but also on a certain long and lanky Altean.

\-- **Slightest of slght gore warning -- will be marked with *** for those who want to skip** \--

 

There was a blast. There must have been. The ringing in his ears was much too loud to be just from hitting his head on the ground. If not for the pain in his head, the pain in the rest of him was indication enough that he wasn’t imagining anything. Keith started getting his bearings but it was too difficult to see anything in the darkened hall that would give him something to focus on. There was so much dust getting in the way of his vision but soon he could distinguish the wall from the floor. Keith was feeling his head clear when a thought occurred to him; _Where was Lance?_

Then it hit him.

 

_The blast._

 

Scrambling to his feet, he tried to stand but found himself stumbling to the floor and landing on his hands and knees. Biting through the pain, he dragged his body towards the wall closest to him to regain some sense of balance. His vision was still blurry and shaky from his splitting headache that was guessing was not a concussion. With a hand on the wall and the other swaying limply by his side, he shuffled into the doorway he was thrown from. The dust was beginning to settle when he saw a hint of blue just beyond his reach.

"Lance!" Wobbling like a toddler, Keith made his way to Lance’s side with great struggle. He shifted Lance so his back was flat on the ground, save for his head which Keith laid on his lap. Making a quick assessment of Lance, Keith could see mostly small burns on exposed skin and several scratches smattered around his body. He seemed to only be bleeding from a cut on his forehead. He most likely hit his head from the force of the explosion and got knocked out cold. Smacking his face lightly, Keith began probing Lance to respond.

"Lance, can you hear me?" _Still no response._

In the distance, Keith heard two pairs of feet running down the corridor towards them. Slightly out of breath, Allura’s distress wrinkled her flawless skin as she continued down the path to the now-damaged holodeck.

"What happened here?" She managed through erratic breathing, slowing as she neared them.

"I-I don't really know. There was an explosion but I didn't see anything. Lance, he-"

"Oh quiznak, Lance!" Allura interrupted when she was close enough to see her fellow Altean through the settling dust. She knelt over Lance on the side opposite to where Keith had set him down. She made a short inspection of his face, neck, chest and other body parts that she could see. Her expression morphed from shock to concern to desperation.

"We need to get him to the medical bay. Lotor, get a cryopod and a cryosuit ready. Keith, I need you to carry him there carefully while I go see what caused this. He may be suffering from internal injuries."

At Allura’s instruction, Lotor made a dash for the medical bay to prepare what Lance needed. If Lance truly had more serious wounds, waiting too long before getting him into a pod would only make the healing process more difficult. Allura had gone further into the holodeck to assess the damage and hopefully find an explanation for all that had happened. While she was dealing with the controls and statistics of the Castleship, Keith had lifted Lance into his arms, cradling his head close to his collarbone to keep from him straining his neck. 

“Keith!” Allura called just as he was about to leave. “In case anything happens, use this,” she continued as she placed a small white and blue earpiece in his right ear.

The cold from the little gadget was a bit uncomfortable for his sensitive ears but he knew why Allura had given it to him. When they were at their most vulnerable, a more secure way of communicating would be best. Allura had also placed another of the same earpiece onto Lance’s torso, most probably for Lotor once he got to the medical bay. Keith nodded to Allura before walking out the door that was now forced open from the blast. He would never admit it but it hurt Keith that Allura left one extra earpiece with him, meaning Lance was _not_ going to use it anytime soon. Keith could feel the unconscious Altean’s breathing on his chest which was a good sign. _He’s alive, at least._

"Just hang in there, Lance."

Keith shifted his arms slightly to hold Lance closer, making it easier to walk. Lance was a lot heavier than he had expected since he had always seen him light on his feet in training. Perhaps the weight he was feeling came from the fact that Lance was a dead weight. Despite there being a medical bay on essentially every floor, it was a long walk before Keith would make it to the closest one if he was coming from the holodeck. Keith cursed whoever it was that designed the floorplan of the ship to have the cryopods be located so far from anywhere since it was essentially the center of everything in the castle other than the crystal and the power grid. Keith may have been reduced to walking due to the full-grown Altean he was carrying but he refused to slow down, not when Lance was slowly running out of time. Keith glanced down at Lance’s face every now and again to see if anything had changed. The bleeding coming from his head had slowed and burns seemed to have cooled down. _He’ll be fine,_  Keith hoped.

Keith nearly rounded the corner in front of him when he heard it. Whatever sounded so subtle he wouldn't have heard it if his hearing wasn't impressive seemed to be coming from the corridor to his left. The fur on his forearms and behind his neck seemed to stand on end from the sudden sense of danger. As gently and quietly as he could, he set Lance down on the floor against the wall. If it was truly dangerous, he would need his hands free to protect the helpless and unconscious Lance. Once he was sure Lance was stable, Keith crouched by the edge of the corner to turn his head into the left corridor. Leaning over ever so slightly, his eye caught sight of a dark figure: small, most likely male judging from the build and moving quickly down the hall, looking for something. Keith felt his body wanting to spring into action, to attack this strange threat that had somehow wound up on what was one of the top floors of the Castle. The only thing stopping him was the fact that not only was he alone, but he also had to make sure that nothing would happen to Lance. Finally, all that nagging from their training sessions was paying off since he decided now would be a good time to strategize for once instead of leaving Lance to do it.

The figure appeared to still not have noticed him, his attention being used elsewhere. Keith couldn’t be sure of the threat level of this stranger but he wasn’t about to take any chances, not at this moment at least. Feeling around his waist and torso, Keith remembered that he always carried his Marmora blade with him strapped to a holster on his lower back. He clutched the handle behind him, breathing slowly when he remembered the communication device he was wearing. Tapping the body of the device twice to activate it, Keith whispered a warning to Allura since she was the only bearer of the device’s compatibles.

"Allura, we have an intruder."

"WHAT?!" she screamed quietly.

Keith could hear frantic movements and quick monitor pings over the shared communication line. He figured that Allura was trying to find him and the said intruder but most likely how he had gotten into the ship in the first place. Keith had been watching the intruder the entire time but when the intruder turned around and headed for the corner Keith and Lance were on, he knew he couldn’t wait for back-up. He quickly hid his head behind the wall so the intruder couldn’t see him but then again, he couldn’t see the intruder either. He closed his eyes and performed a trance-like slow breathing ritual he usually did to relax and focus. Dropping his heart rate would let the blood rush in his ears calm enough for him to hear how close the intruder was and the perfect time to strike. Step by careful step, the intruder drew nearer to where Keith was hiding and soon, it would be life or death. Keith opened his eyes, rising slowly to his feet to make attacking the intruder faster and easier when he eventually reached the corner. Time seemed to slow down, making every step torturously dragged out and echo in his head. Once he saw the edge of the intruder’s torn cloak, he pounced.

Keith had taken his opponent off guard and it was obvious with the sluggish way the intruder fought at first, almost as if he didn’t register his existence at all. The fact that he wasn’t unconscious or dead yet was because his evasion and defense were that of an experienced fighter, not exactly aggressive but definitely not weak-willed. Keith had taken out his blade by now and activated it, extending the short dagger to its curved sword form. The intruder seemed unfazed by the appearance of a Marmora blade and began attacking with more determination. Soon enough, Keith realized that this opponent was not someone to be taken lightly. He reached up to tap the earpiece again, only to find that he was touching his skin. Just behind the intruder, he could just make out where he had dropped the communication device during the fight. It would seem that he was alone in this fight.

Keith was getting tired but the intruder seemed almost fine, if not a little out of breath. Keith felt his knees buckle in the slightest and his extremities were aching like crazy. If he didn’t end the fight soon, he would lose. Keith had gotten momentarily distracted when he looked to Lance which the intruder had used to his advantage. Keith felt a hard kick to his shoulder, followed by his gut and he was thrown backward in the hall. He struggled to get up but found that the intruder was much too close and with a blunt object in his hand. The intruder had raised the melee weapon overhead to strike Keith unconscious when a quick flash of blue stuck him in the back, incapacitating him slightly and pushing him forward at the waist. Keith took this time to get on his hands and sweep the intruder off of his feet. Once the intruder was down, Keith made a swift but powerful stomp on the intruder’s face, knocking him out and breaking his already flat nose.

Keith looked up to thank Allura for helping him out, only to find that she had not shown up at all. Lance was loosely gripping onto an assault energy rifle on his torso and was on the brink of wakefulness and total darkness, his mind and body at war for what would take over. Keith got down on one knee, inspecting the semi-conscious Altean that was still badly burnt and beaten from the earlier blast.

"Lance, are you okay?" Keith asked in a surprisingly even voice, despite the heavy breathing. The furrowed brows and the strain on Keith’s forehead told him that he was worried but Lance seemed not to have noticed. Perhaps with his semi-conscious state, Lance’s vision and mentality still weren’t in perfect condition. Keith had extended his hand for Lance to help him to his feet. Lance gripped his hand but instead of getting up, he simply gave him a small lopsided smile with drooping eyelids. The words that came out of Lance’s mouth had brought out a smile from Keith’s lips, as well.

"Yeah... We are a good team, aren't we?"

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

Keith had carried Lance to the medical bay as soon as Allura had shown up with a pair of handcuffs and the angriest look he had seen on her to date. She picked the intruder up and threw him over her shoulder like he weighed no more than her dress and left to shove him into a cell they had in the lower floors. Lotor was, of course, unaware of the whole situation and asked where Keith had been the entire time he was waiting. After a round of explaining, Lance was finally in a cryopod and it appeared that he only had a few broken bones and burns but nothing too serious. In normal circumstances, Lance would have likely only stayed in the pod for a couple of vargas, three at the most but with the crystal damaged, there was no telling how long he would actually need to be in there.

Lotor had agreed to stay behind in the medical bay to monitor Lance’s vitals while Keith and Allura would handle the stowaway. Keith had given him the earpiece Allura had given him and sped down to the interrogation room that Allura had prepared for the intruder. By the time Keith had arrived, the intruder was already strapped down to a chair, stirring awake.

"How did you bypass all our security?" Allura began interrogating, deciding not to beat around the bush. Despite the murderous look in her eyes, the intruder merely laughed as if he were unaware of the situation he had just awoken to.

"Your ‘security’ was hardly secure, was it? It was your biggest liability but you're not gonna get any more out of me,” he said confidently. His smooth, desaturated green skin wrinkled around his beady yellow eyes with an open-mouthed grin that revealed sharp teeth, glossy with saliva. 

Allura crossed her arms over her chest, clearly unimpressed with his cocky display.

"I don't know. I've heard that I can be quite persuasive." Allura wasn't about to let this prisoner get what was coming to him until she had answers. If there was a flaw in the ship's systems, this would not be the only intruder they would be having.

"Even the dead aren't so loose-lipped."

 

***

 

As soon as the intruder had said those words, he let out an agonizing scream as smoke escaped from the inner workings of his throat. His skin had begun to turn black with char from the places his suit ended and cracked open, spilling blood in spurts. Despite having his eyes closed, they burst from their sockets, bringing along with them the onset of the putrid smell of burning flesh. When his blood sprayed from his body, it would be steaming, making the droplets that hit either Keith or Allura's skin burn and blister. Suddenly, as quickly as he had started screaming, the intruder went silent, leaving his body to continue burning, evaporating all moisture and shrinking his already small frame significantly. The smoking continued, peeling the skin around protruding bone structure to reveal bits of his burnt-black skeleton. The silence seemed to stretch throughout the room until Keith made his observation, perhaps both of their observations, known.

 

***

 

"He's dead."

Allura swore under breath. She hadn’t gotten the answers she wanted and now they may be vulnerable to more attacks. Maybe next time they wouldn’t be so lucky. Keith watched as Allura’s face went through a series of thoughts that all painted one emotion on her face: _worry_.

"I'll dispose of him but Keith, you better be in the medical bay with Lotor by the time I finish. We have a few things to discuss."

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

"We are in greater danger now more than ever,” Allura started as she glared at Lance’s vitals on the cryopod. Keith still had trouble reading Altean but judging from how Allura was tapping through screens of zoomed-in anatomy and red-marked zones with urgency, it did not look good.

"With the crystal in this state, we would have trouble just getting to the closest Balmera," Allura continued without turning to either of the Galra in her presence, her focus solely on her fellow Altean.

"Which is where?" Keith asked with his arms crossed across his chest.

"A few vargas from here, even more so now since the ship will most likely be moving at half its speed and with Lance in the cryopod, a good chunk of the crystal's remaining power will prioritize him." Allura seemed more engrossed in the heart rate monitor that beat steadily than in the very words escaping her chewed-through lips. 

“So what is it you need us to do, Allura?”

“I need you to be alert. Until we get to the Balmera, we will be left without any offensive security protocols and even our defenses have suffered a massive blow because of that intruder. I don’t know how he managed to get in but I will make sure that the next one will not get out that easily.” With those final words, Allura dismissed them to do whatever they had to do.

Allura had kept herself at the helm, setting a course for the Balmera and diverting as much power as she could to the ship’s engines and Lance’s cryopod. Lotor had taken a seat in front of her, most likely the second in command since there were about four unoccupied stations on the deck. Keith had situated himself on Allura’s right, checking logistics and mapping out their course toward the Balmera, ensuring that they would not get in the way of any celestial bodies and other space debris from dead planets or abandoned space crafts. They all worked n silence. The tension in the air had reached almost critical levels that Keith was surprised that it hadn’t activated any alarms on the ship. Although, he suspected that even if the ship had sensors for discomfort, they would have been suppressed in favor of the engines and medical bay. Keith had been glancing up at either Allura or Lotor for what felt like vargas. If he were to have checked, only a measly fifteen doboshes had passed.  Despite not being able to do anything about Lance, Keith wanted so desperately to watch the only occupied cryopod. He didn’t expect to see Lance come out of it if he had watched but it was a comfort to know that Lance was safe.

Keith stole another restless glance at Allura but the screen she had opened caught his attention. Having the ship on an autopilot course to the Balmera had left her hands free to review and rewind security footage from all over the castle. From what Keith could see, she had her eyes trained on a video clip from the right-hand corner in the holodeck that was timestamped to about 40 doboshes before the explosion. The clip illuminated her face as the lights throughout the castle were still functioning at the time the video was taken. She was jumping back and forth, trying to find when the intruder got in or what caused the explosion or anything that was different until the camera had been blown out from the blast and the loss of power.

Although exhausted (judging from the redness appearing at the edges of her sclera), Allura kept her gaze and attention trained on the video footage until something finally happened. From what Keith could see, she had sped the video all the way through Lance entering the holodeck, shuffling around the control panel to activate the hologram of Altea, sitting down, and eventually Keith finding him. Keith couldn’t tell what Allura was thinking as she paused the footage and started flipping through it frame by frame, her expression vacant of any telling signs that she was feeling anything other than the sleep creeping up on her. She stared unblinkingly at the screen that was now inches from her nose. Knowing what happened next, Keith looked away to check on their current trajectory and found it to be free and clear, not even cloaked ships as far as he could tell but then again, their sensors might also not be active for the sake of the weakened power of the crystal. From the highest speed the ship could muster, it would still be another twelve vargas before they even reach the star system containing the Balmera. It was about to be a long time before he could talk to Lance again.

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

Keith had been staring at Lance’s vitals for about seven vargas by now. Lotor had somehow convinced Allura to finally close her eyes and get some rest when she collapsed for the third time at the helm. Once Allura had conceded to at least sleep on one of the chairs in the holodeck, Lotor sent Keith away to the medical bay. Evidently, Keith had forgotten that Lotor was highly attentive and knew Keith as well as he knew himself. Trying desperately to inch towards the holodeck’s open doors did not go unnoticed by his oldest friend. So after Allura’s light snoring had filled the silence, Keith wasted no time and ran for the only cryopod in use.

He knew that they would be reaching the Balmera any dobosh now but he couldn’t help being where he was, staring up at Lance’s slowly-healing, unconscious face. He couldn’t get what Lance had said to him before passing out unceremoniously.

 

_We are a good team._

 

There was something about the way he looked at him that still baffled Keith. That glint in his eyes and the way he had smiled at him were not common instances whenever Keith had seen him. He blamed his growing obsession on his curiosity and nothing else but he felt that just didn’t add up. Something else was going on with him and he had no idea what at this point. He just knew that Lance must know what was going on with him, at least he hoped he did. Looking at the vitals again, Lance would need another eighteen vargas to fully recover with the amount of power he was getting. He had not seen a Balmeran crystal extraction himself but he had heard it is quite a spectacle, especially for one to power something the size of the castle.

“Keith, the Balmera is coming into view.”

Keith’s train of thought was halted at the sound of Lotor’s voice as it cut through the silence by means of the overhead speakers. Keith sighed, knowing he would have to return to the holodeck to watch over the castle as Allura and Lotor would retrieve the crystal which should not take long at all, according to Allura. Keith took one last lingering glance at Lance's unconscious and now completely uninjured face.

 

_He will be alright._

 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

  
  


“It won’t be much longer now. Just a few more ticks.”

“How much better do think he’s gonna get in a few more ticks?”

In all technicalities, the entire crew on the Castleship was in the same room, watching the stabilized vitals on the occupied cryopod. The three who remained conscious waited as the last member of the crew would wake, one much less patiently than the other two. Keith had been pouting and grumbling since the new crystal had been installed. He wanted to make sure Lance was alright but seeing his still and unconscious face was too unnerving to believe Allura when she said he would be fine and awake soon. Lotor had taken it upon himself to at least diffuse the tension by starting a group conversation. Lotor was smart and charming, Keith knew, which made watching him work his communicative magic all the more interesting. Allura hung on his every word but still had enough self-awareness to keep up with the conversation but Keith could see it, she was smitten and so was Lotor. He can see why neither of them opposed the arranged marriage after the first meeting. Despite being raised in different worlds, their perspectives of the universe were so similar that they couldn’t help but merge their differences. Keith never really understood that. At least, he used to.

Keith heard a noise from close by. From the corner of his eye, he saw the dissolving of the cryopod’s entrance which only left him with several ticks before Lance would hit the floor. At lightning speed and no regard for how he looked, he scrambled to the front of the pod to catch a dazed and off-balanced Altean before his face met the ground.

“I save your life and you save my face? A bit of an unfair exchange on your end,” Lance joked with a chuckle in his throat. Keith was glad that Lance was still the same despite everything he’s been through.

“-an you walk?” Allura’s voice had cut through Keith’s train of thought and he realized he had been staring at Lance the entire time. When had his eyes become more brilliant?

“I could eat but I’ll need a bit of help getting there. Think you can carry me the rest of the way, Frizzy?” 

“I’d probably have to drag you since you have so much weight in your big head,” Keith replied immediately. Lance simply adjusted his body to look at Keith better with a reply of his own ready.

“It’s not the only big head around here,” Lance retorted with his signature smirk. Although, something felt different about the way he had said those words. It was probably nothing, Keith argued to himself, but he couldn’t help feeling something else was beneath the surface, something that was making his cheeks burn.

It was a good thing that Lotor and Allura had already left for the dining area, confirmed by a quick scan around the room. Lance seemed to be totally unfazed but it might have just been the fact that he was still drifting in and out of consciousness. Keith was right about dragging Lance nearly the entire way because he just couldn’t stay awake long enough to make more than three steps before passing out for the next ten. It wasn’t until they were five doors away from the dining area that Lance finally regained enough consciousness to make steadier strides. Keith was thankful for how light Lance became once he wasn’t such a dead weight.

“Uh, Keith?” Lance started, causing Keith to halt in his tracks. The ticks seemed to pass in slow motion as Lance turned to face Keith with only one word slipping gracefully from his lips.

“Thanks.”

Lance turning away almost immediately was another stroke of luck so Keith’s cheeks could redden in peace. He picked up the pace again, hoping beyond hope that he could get himself in check before Lotor or Allura took notice.

Once Lance was seated and fed, Keith and Allura dove into the details of what happened after he had lost consciousness completely. Of course, Lance had to reiterate everything in his own theatrics, claiming that even with his injuries and dazed state, he managed to nearly single-handedly fight off the intruder. It annoyed Keith to no end but he couldn’t help but find the over-exaggeration to be a little endearing. At least Lance was happy and healthy… and here.

 

For Keith, that was enough for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead. Just recently uninspired and stressed but I'll get thru it and finish this story.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know if you would like to see the rest of this story. :)


End file.
